Acer announces Window 8 tablet!

Acer has kicked off Computex by announcing a series of new devices, including a refresh of the 13.3-inch Aspire S7 and the launch of the Iconia W3, an 8.1-inch tablet that brings the new Microsoft platform to a smaller screen size.

The Intel-powered Iconia W3 weighs just 1.1 pounds and is 11.35 mm thick, it is powered by an Intel dual-core 1.8GHz Atom Z2760 processor. It is available as 32GB or 64GB models and is priced upwards of $379, going on sale tomorrow. Keyboards area available for the device — priced around $90 — but do not come included.

The tablet’s 1,280 x 800 display is capable of playing video at 720p, and it includes a two-megapixel camera on the back, Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, USB slots and space for a micro-SD card.

Interestingly, the device comes loaded with both the home and student version of Microsoft’s Office products, the merits of which are explained by Luca Rossi, vice president of the consumer business unit at Acer Europe:

With the Iconia W3, Acer is giving the millions of students, consumers and professionals, who create, read, work and play in the Windows environment a single-handed device that does it all. These adventurous will enjoy the industry-leading combination of a Windows 8 tablet in a sleek and lightweight 8-inch design, giving them a new and more effective way to take their fun and productivity on the go.

The Taiwanese firm also announced a refresh of its Aspire S7 Ultrabook. The new  S7-392 model runs on a fourth-generation Intel chip and includes a 1 TB hard disk. The refresh brings with it extended battery life, an enhanced electroluminescent (EL) backlit keyboard and an improved cooling system.

Acer is also talking up the new wireless display (based on Intel’s WiDi) technology which allows for big-screen entertainment and greater productivity levels, it says. The S7 begins shipping in July and is priced upwards of €1,450 in Europe, US pricing has not been announced.TNW

Yahoo & Microsoft as both push 30% higher in 2013!

Yahoo under the leadership of Marissa Mayer has found new energy. The company has enacted an acquisition spree, picking up companies both small and Tumblr. Hiring has also become easier for the company as its mindshare has risen. Its mobile efforts have seen firm traction. It’s a company on the make.

And investors have responded, pushing its stock up more than 30 percent thus far in 2013, a dramatic rise given that we are still enjoying the tail end of May. However, as the LA Times’ Chris O’Brien noted yesterday, the company isn’t alone in its good fortune: Microsoft’s stock has risen just north of 30 percent in 2013 as well.

Microsoft is a company that is currently enduring two mild market rebukes of its most public new consumer facing products: Windows 8 and the Surface tablet line. Both are selling, but not as strongly as Microsoft expected. And the company still faces headwinds in the smartphone space despite progress. Why is the company up such a large percentage this year, when it continues to struggle in the consumer sector?

O’Brien wrote about the subject for the Times, stating that:

There may be no one explanation for the sudden love from investors. It’s worth noting that while PC sales have collapsed, Microsoft’s earnings have not collapsed with them. And while Windows 8 may not have met expectations, the company is rumored to be planning some changes, such as possibly reintroducing the Start button and allowing users to boot directly to the classic desktop version rather than the tile-based look.

The irony to the above quote is that O’Brien didn’t know what Microsoft had planned for this morning:  an unveiling of Windows 8.1. I spent nearly two hours with Microsoft yesterday at its downtown San Francisco office digging through the coming update to Windows 8. It’s a worthy and worth-awaiting fix, both extending new features and smoothing user interface issues that plagued the first build of the new operating system.

But Windows 8.1 is only now partially known, and remains a future release. What could have driven the rise in Microsoft’s stock price that it has enjoyed previously in 2013? After all, Microsoft is up a mere 0.5% today, following the news of Windows 8.1, so it can’t be the sole, or even material cause. Or, just as Yahoo has seen its stock price rise over a number of events, it would be sensical that Microsoft’s has swung higher on more than a single event.

The gist of my position on Microsoft’s progress up the stock charts is simple: the company was undervalued before, its business products are growing quickly, and new segments of its software are hitting key revenue benchmarks. Microsoft’s current price-earnings ratio is around 18. Before it was around 12. That’s a low multiple for a technology company. The rise in its valuation isn’t therefore exceptionally frothy.

That figure however comes with a caveat: according to Yahoo Finance, Microsoft’s current 5 year expected PEG ratio clocks in at a high 1.45; investors are therefore betting that Microsoft will grow more quickly in the future than the past, which will bring that last ratio down to a more acceptable figure. (For comparison, Yahoo’s current price-earnings according to Google Finance is a painfully low 7.72).

Can it? Azure is now a $1 billion per year business, the new version of Office has moved more than 20 million copies in its life, Office 365 Home Premium for consumers is over the 1 million subscriber mark, Yammer revenue is up 259% year-over-year, and SharePoint is now bringing in more than $2 billion per year. Those add up to a sum that can shift Microsoft’s growth rates forward.

None of this excuses the weakness in the larger PC market that will bedevil the Windows division, even as Surface revenue helps replace perhaps lower-than-known Windows software revenue. But quite simply momentum in Microsoft’s favor is granting it breathing room to sort and fix Windows 8; 100 million licenses sold isn’t a number that can be laughed at, even if Microsoft had anticipated a higher tally.

Taken as a whole, Microsoft was perhaps a bit undervalued before its 2013 rally, and strong performance of new products and its software that it vends to businesses could drive short and medium-term revenue growth. That appears to have heartened investors.

If Microsoft can fully sort Windows 8, and manage to greatly increase its presence in the tablet market, it can then call itself wholly healthy. For now, the company lists too heavily to one side. Still, the company is far from dead.

Returning to Yahoo, it’s interesting to see the difference in how the two firms have managed their ascent; Yahoo has done so through very public purchases, and generally lauded performance. Microsoft has managed the same gain in a more quiet fashion. But investors are responding to both companies in similar ways, though I would posit that Yahoo’s gains are more based on – and I would say well placed – optimism, while Microsoft’s are a bit more numerically based.

Still, both firms are being valued as if they will see their top and bottom lines grow. If either bet, or both pay off we’ll know in a few quarters. For now, both are happy to not be Apple, a company of almost comical strength and a painfully declining stock.TNW

Motorola confirms Moto X Smartphone!

Motorola has announced its new Moto X flagship Smartphone which will launch this summer.

There's been plenty of talk and rumors about the Motorola X phone but we finally have some confirmation, straight from the horse's mouth. Dennis Woodside, CEO of Motorola, broke the news at the AllThingsD conference where he said the phone would be part of a portfolio which would reinvent the Google-owned company.

The 'hero' Moto X was in his pocket but Woodside said "I can't show it to you

Unfortunately no specifications were revealed for the Moto X. However, Woodside did say that using various sensors it will be 'contextually aware', knowing when you take it out of your pocket for example. "It anticipates my needs" he said.

Some components will be made elsewhere – for example, the processors will come from Taiwan and the OLED screen will be manufactured in Korea. Woodside also suggested the Moto X will offer good battery life.

Consumers will be able to get their hands on the Moto X 'by October, according to Woodside. The Smartphone will be the first to be assembled in the USA, according to Motorola. It will be put together in Fort Worth, Texas.

One reason for this is to deliver the Smartphone much quicker, having the HQ close to the factory. Woodside said the Moto X will be 'broadly distributed'. There's no word on a UK launch yet but we'll keep you up to date.

The Motorola Moto X will be released by October along with a number of other new Smartphone so stay tuned for all the latest.

Samsung ranks 1st on phone sales but Apple tags higher on Profit!

Samsung was the world’s number one Smartphone seller for the first quarter of this year in terms of revenue, overtaking Apple, data from Strategy show.

According to a report from Yonhap News, sales of Samsung’s Smartphone topped $23.63 billion during the first three months of 2013, toppling the iPhone maker which had occupied the top spot in the previous quarter.

Apple posted $22.95 billion worth of Smartphone sales in the first quarter, down $7.71 billion from the previous quarter. Comparatively, Samsung’s first-quarter sales figure was up $952 million from the previous quarter.

Data released by Strategy Analytics yesterday saw Samsung chalk up a record figure of 12.5 million Smartphone being sold in China during the first quarter of 2013.

The latest Yonhap report said solid demand for Samsung’s high-end Smartphone that run on the long-term evolution network helped to boost its sales.

Last week, Samsung’s Galaxy S4 passed 10 million channel sales within a month of its launch, becoming the company’s fastest-ever selling Smartphone. The Galaxy S3 took two months to reach the same milestone.

In the latest Strategy Analytics data, Nokia came in third with sales of $3.64 billion, followed by LG Electronics with $2.95 billion in sales.

Apple, however, ranked first in terms of operating income earned by handset makers globally in the first quarter, taking a 31 percent share. Samsung came in second with a 21.8 percent share, LG third with 4.1 percent, followed by Sharp with 3 percent, the report showed.

Samsung posted operating profit of $$7.9 billion and net profit of $6.5 billion in the first quarter of 2013, while Apple recorded $9.5 billion in profit for the second fiscal quarter of 2013. 

Ready for the iPhone 6?

A concept image of the Apple iPhone 6 shows a radical curved screen design.

Part of a string of concept images including a budget iPhone with a plastic case, MyVoucherCodes has commission the design showing what the iPhone 6 could look like. The design is based on a recent patent meaning a possible curved display. 

 The patent describes: "A consumer electronic product includes at least a transparent housing and a flexible display assembly enclosed within the transparent housing. In the described embodiment, the flexible display assembly is configured to present visual content at any portion of the transparent housing."

The patent also says the display can achieve "an illusion of depth perception" capable of "mimicking a 3D experience."

So the iPhone 6 could have a wraparound AMOLED display and the loss of the iconic physical home button. If so, it would be the biggest design overhaul of the iPhone since Apple launched the device in 2007.

However, Nickolay Lamm, the designer behind the concept, thinks it's unlikely that Apple will release an iPhone with this kind of design this year but it could feature in a future generation; perhaps the iPhone 7.

"Such a design may appear on the iPhone 6 or 7, or maybe never. It’s a cool design, but one which is unlikely to give Apple a sustainable competitive advantage. If Samsung sees that Apple’s curved iPhone is selling well, it can come out with a curved phone of its own. So, although this is a radical design change, Apple needs to look to new frontiers, new products, in order to be the “think different” Apple it was under Steve Jobs." said Lamm.PCadvisor

Meet the all new Xbox 360!

 The original Xbox debuted in the fall of 2005, which feels like a million years ago...even if it's only seven and a half. It's high time for a new console, even if some tech pundits are questioning the value of gaming hardware platforms in the current age.

Design
The Xbox One is large, sleek, and black, and looks like a piece of AV equipment. The controller and Kinect unit are redesigned, too: the Kinect and Xbox One, in particular, sport sharp-angled, glossy-black boxy looks. As a set, the Xbox One really does feel like some elaborate piece of home theater gear...and considering its mission to knit entertainment together into a modern all-in-one package, that's clearly intentional. It also looks awfully big, compared with current-gen consoles and how they've slimmed down.

The name "Xbox One" suggests a reboot, a fresh start. Maybe from this day forward, Microsoft's connected living-room PC strategies will spring from the Xbox One. Or, it'll just be a very good gaming console.

Home entertainment
Microsoft promises that this is a better-connected way of linking TV, games, and entertainment in one unit -- something the Xbox 360 already does, but will do more via commands like "Xbox, on." As was said during the initial presser, you're "going to have a relationship with your TV." The elevator pitch: take on a living room that has become "too complex," and make a system that knits games, TV, and entertainment.

So, how will that happen?

There are universal gestures such as grab-and-pan and swipe up; watching live TV will involve maximizing and minimizing the screen in a top corner. Live TV will be part of the Xbox One experience, via HDMI-in. Yes, cable TV looks like part of the package.

But we haven't seen, other than some picture-in-picture overlays, how exactly TV is piped in and more deeply interacted with...and who the partners are. Comcast was mentioned, but what other companies will contribute to letting the Xbox One hook in and become a true TV accessory? That was the challenge that daunted Google TV and the Wii U. Right now, it doesn't look like the Xbox One replaces your cable box or your DVR, even though it's large enough to be both.

The Xbox One does knit together new voice commands to do some PC-like stuff: you can order movie tickets, for instance, engage in Skype, or pull up fantasy sports stats while watching a game. The conversational, Siri-meets-Google Now-like voice commands hopefully will have clear menu representation on the console, as otherwise it could get confusing.

"It's an all-in-one entertainment console" is a pitch we've heard before, dating back to the PlayStation 3 and before that -- really, going back all the way to the 3DO. It hasn't always worked, but the Xbox One is better positioned because the Xbox 360's already pretty successful at being an excellent streaming-video device.

Specs
Under the hood, details so far include an eight-core processor and graphics made by AMD, 8GB of RAM, Blu-ray, USB 3.0, HDMI in/out, and a 500GB hard drive. Besides all of this, Microsoft is promising a new operating system fusing Xbox and Windows.

Xbox One architecture has "three operating systems in one": Xbox, a kernel of Windows (perhaps like Windows RT), and a multitasking interface. The idea seems to be that this console will be a multitasker at heart. Check out a head-to-head comparison with the PlayStation 4 specs known so far, however, and you can see that the distance between Sony and Microsoft, in terms of hardware, will be shorter than ever.

New Kinect
A new Kinect comes with the Xbox One, complete with improved accuracy. It has a 1080p camera, Skype connectivity, and understanding of rotational movement in a structure like a skeleton. Microsoft even claims the new Kinect can read your heartbeat. It can also recognize your controller, not just your hands -- suggesting uses that sound a little like the ones for PlayStation Move's wand.

New controller
The Xbox controller's gotten a revamp with an integrated battery, improved ergonomics, a better D-pad, and improved response triggers. It looks similar but has gotten a bunch of gamer-oriented tweaks.

SmartGlass
The tablet-based SmartGlass experience will center on Xbox One, and will work as before with a variety of phones and tablets. Baked-in Wi-Fi Direct on the Xbox One will allow Bluetooth-like direct communication between external devices, which could come in handy for other future peripherals, too. Second screens will be a major method of interacting with the Xbox One, but details were scarce at the Xbox event -- how will it be better than, and more profound than, SmartGlass as it currently exists?

Xbox Live
Built on the existing service and usernames, the new Xbox Live promises 300,000 servers for Xbox One, a whopping number. Matchmaking services will work while you're doing other tasks like watching movies or Web browsing, and bigger, more quickly connecting matches are promised, too. Microsoft has discussed some cloud services on the Xbox One that seems promising: user-based cloud game saves, uploaded game recording, and even the potential for cloud-processing-enhanced games. How that will play out isn't clear.

Games
Microsoft plans eight new franchises for the Xbox One in the first year, a hopeful sign for a platform that's become too sequel-dependent. Of course, Forza 5 was shown off, but a new game called Quantum Break from the developers of Alan Wake looks like the sort of game we're more used to seeing from PlayStation, with a big-studio design and cinematic feel. But there is some bad news: like the PlayStation 4, the Xbox One isn't backward-compatible with Xbox 360 games. For more, read what we know about Xbox One's games so far.

TV on Xbox
"Xbox is going to be the next water cooler." That was said during the event to suggest the Xbox One's role as a social-TV platform. To that end, it sounds like Microsoft is developing TV shows and original programming for the Xbox One, making a greater leap into Netflix-like original programming. Steven Spielberg announced a new TV series based on Halo, and the NFL demonstrated some level of interaction with fantasy stats and Skyping with NFL broadcasts.

Availability
The Xbox One will be available "later this year," so that means 2013 after all. Price and a specific date will have to wait...after all, E3 is just weeks away. In short, there are still several things about the Xbox One we don't know...and would like to.

BB messenger coming on iOS & Android this year!

 Blackberry (formerly Research in Motion RIM) has announced plans to launch it's popular BB messenger on the Apple iOS and Android as a free app, making accessible to millions of fan around the globe. 

In a recent press release at BlackBerry Live 2013, Andrew Bocking, Executive Vice President, Software Product Management and Ecosystem, at BlackBerry had this to say:

“For BlackBerry, messaging and collaboration are inseparable from the mobile experience, and the time is definitely right for BBM to become a multi-platform mobile service. BBM has always been one of the most engaging services for BlackBerry customers, enabling them to easily connect while maintaining a valued level of personal privacy. We’re excited to offer iOS and Android users the possibility to join the BBM community.”

If you’re already a fan of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), we’ve got some exciting news designed to make it easier for you to connect with your entire mobile social network. BlackBerry plans to make BBM, our wildly popular mobile messaging service, available for the first time to iOS® and Android™ users this summer, (subject to approval by Google Play and the Apple App Store, as applicable). This means that, once available, you can welcome your friends and family using these other mobile platforms to connect over BBM and share in the Team BlackBerry love.

BBM set the standard for mobile instant messaging with fast and reliable service and an added layer of engagement with delivered and read statuses. You’ve shared with us your stories about how BBM has kept you connected when it mattered most to you. Upon release of the multi-platform BBM service, you can broaden that real-time connection to friends and colleagues on other supported mobile platforms.

In the first version of multi-platform BBM, iOS and Android users are expected to be able to experience the following BBM features:

·         The immediacy of BBM chats

·         Multi-person chats

·         Voice note sharing

·         BlackBerry Groups, where BBM users are able to set up groups of up to 30 people and share calendar, photos, files and more

The team here at BlackBerry has definitely been working hard to bring the much-adored BBM experience to a wider group of mobile users. BB blog.